House Panel's Steroid Inquiry to Play Before a Sellout Crowd

By Maura Reynolds

March 16, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON —

In recent years, the House of Representatives has debated and investigated two wars, a prison abuse scandal and whether prescription drugs should be available through the Internet. But in intensity of public interest, none of those hearings have topped the star-powered one planned this week on steroid use in professional baseball.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is expected to appear on Capitol Hill on Thursday to answer questions about why and how the national pastime became so pumped on steroids. And if Congress members have their way, half a dozen of the sport’s best-known players will be asked under oath whether their athletic achievements were artificially enhanced.

Among them, however, will not be Jason Giambi, the New York Yankee slugger who reportedly acknowledged using steroids in 2003 grand jury testimony in a federal investigation.

The House Committee on Government Reform, which subpoenaed Giambi and six other current or former players last week, excused him Tuesday from appearing at the hearing because of his involvement in the investigation into alleged steroid distribution by people associated with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, a nutritional supplement firm.

“From the outset, we have said that we in no way wanted our inquiry to impede or complicate any ongoing investigations by law enforcement,” Reps. Thomas M. Davis (R-Va.) and Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), the committee’s leaders, said in a statement. “Therefore, upon hearing today from the Justice Department that Mr. Giambi’s appearance could do just that, we have decided to excuse him from testifying.”

However, the congressmen said the other six -- Curt Schilling, Rafael Palmeiro, Frank Thomas, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa -- “will be expected to comply with the subpoenas” and show up to face what is likely to be several dozen scolding legislators and wall-to-wall television coverage.

Intensive discussions continued Tuesday night as baseball lawyers sought to get more players excused, though a baseball official said it appeared some of the six would have to appear.

Canseco, whose recent book, “Juiced,” accused many on the witness list of using steroids, has agreed to testify. McGwire was believed to be in Washington on Tuesday, though it remained unclear whether the retired slugging star, who hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998, would also testify.

The steroid scandal’s mix of celebrity sports and congressional politics has combusted to proportions rarely seen on Capitol Hill. Not since House Republicans sought to impeach former President Clinton have so many reporters and photographers sought to attend a hearing, according to Jerry Gallegos, superintendent of the House press gallery, which is controlling media access to the event.

“This is a Class-A hearing,” Gallegos said.

Baseball officials and some conservatives are grumbling that the House Committee on Government Reform is the wrong forum for tackling the issue.

“Instead of a congressional committee, they are acting like a court of law,” said Stanley Brand, a Washington lawyer who is representing both Major League Baseball and its players union at the hearing. “I’ve represented some entities in some pretty vigorous congressional investigations and I can’t recall a case where a committee has been stretched as thin on their jurisdictional charter as this one.”

In a caustic syndicated column this week, commentator George Will accused the committee of having a sense of responsibility as overdeveloped as a steroid-enhanced athlete’s muscles.

“The committee has discovered that its duties include informing all Americans, and especially children, that dangerous and illegal behavior is dangerous and illegal,” Will wrote.

But in an interview, Waxman insisted that the committee’s interest is legitimate because steroid use by professional athletes is fueling increased steroid use among teenagers. He cited statistics from the national Centers for Disease Control suggesting that more than 500,000 young Americans have used steroids to enhance their athletic performance.

“This is not an issue that is comparable to whether we are going to go to war in Iraq or Iran, or what to do about Social Security or Medicare, but it is an important issue all the same,” Waxman said. “The main impact is on the kids around the country who think they should use steroids ... and steroids offer a terrible threat to their health.”

Washington observers see other factors at play. For one, putting sports celebrities on the spot is an easy way for members of Congress to draw an exceptional amount of public attention, even from Americans who usually pay little attention to doings on Capitol Hill. And opposing the use of illegal drugs is pretty much a home run for any politician.

“It’s right over Congress’ strike zone,” said Christopher Foreman, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland who studies congressional oversight.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to posture against drugs.... You don’t have to pass legislation and you get to take a position that no one will fault you for,” he said. “I’m sure Waxman genuinely opposes the use of steroids in baseball. But then again, who doesn’t?”

The subject is also a rare example of a controversy on which Republicans and Democrats see eye to eye. And at a time when Congress is moving into what is expected to be vicious partisan warfare over judicial nominees, members are eager to seize on an issue with bipartisan appeal.

Waxman previously has complained that Republicans in Congress have been slow to launch investigations into issues more directly in their purview, including the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s name to the media by Bush administration officials. Last week’s subpoenas were the first the committee had issued to witnesses in at least a year.

“Overall, the Republicans who run Congress have not been willing to do what I think they should be doing in terms of oversight,” Waxman said. “But they don’t see this as a partisan issue. It’s a public health issue and public health is not partisan.”

Above and beyond the political benefits, Congress also has a long and unusual relationship with professional baseball, dating to the days of Babe Ruth.

In the 1920s, the Supreme Court ruled that baseball was a sport, not a business, and permitted it to be exempt from antitrust legislation. On the basis of that decision, which some scholars now consider dubious, Major League Baseball has been able to enjoy special treatment from Congress, including status as a legal cartel and financial benefits for owners, such as being able to list players as depreciating assets for tax purposes.

As a result of that history and baseball’s tradition as the national pastime, many members of Congress think baseball has a special obligation to be responsive to their concerns.

“We must send a powerful message to the nation that baseball players are not above the law,” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a member of the committee. “Our society cannot operate under one set of rules for the rich and famous and another set for everyone else.”

For now, the committee does not plan to draft legislation on the issue, but members said that could change if they were not satisfied with baseball’s response.

“Nobody’s for drugs or unfair competition,” said the University of Maryland’s Foreman. “It may be far afield from what you’d expect the government reform committee to do, but it’s not something for which most people will seriously fault members of Congress.”

Times staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this report.

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Steroids in school

Percentage of students who said they used anabolic steroids at least once in their lives:

High school seniors

In 2004: 3.4%

In 1995: 2.3%

10th graders

In 2004: 2.4%

In 1995: 2.0%

8th graders

In 2004: 1.9%